Wing tip or other LED Strobes for Certified Aircraft ?

I REALLY like the Aveoflash specs and design and the price point is excellent compared to Whelen. I vaguely recall some requirement to have separate power runs for the strobe and position lights. Is that true and how does that work with the Aveoflash lights?

Jack
 
Gary Brink said:
I can't speak for the Aveoflash but I had to run separate power runs for my Whelen wing tip strobes.
Gary
Click to expand...

That brings up another question for us.. How do you run those new wires? How can you be certain they are secured?
I still say a good comet flash alternating top and bottom is the way to go if you really want to be seen.
 
I have replaced literally every wire in my plane. The original wire in the wings was only fastened in a couple of places so when I pulled it out, I had taped the new wires to it and they came in as it went out. I fastened them the same place as the original wires with cable ties. A bigger problem than wires is the pieces of mud from wasp nests in the wings. Randy, the wing man at Bellanca told me not to worry about the few we couldn't shake out. He said the vibration from the plane will eventually break them up and they seem to disappear.
Gary
 
I have not gotten to the Aveoflash distr at LVK yet, and alas, I will be in Florida and miss the flyin. I did speak to the distr about the how many wires thing and he said run however many you want, but with just one you will get nav and strobe or nothing. (In our case there must be two since no ground return in the wooden wing).

As an elex engr, I have thought up about a hundred ways to overcome that. The question is what can you do in the way or relays, etc. that would qualify as 'owner supplied equipment'. A good thing bout the Aveoflash units is that they run on any voltage from 9 to 32 volts. With a dollar's worth of electronic parts the size of a stack of a couple of nickles, you could have the nav come on at any voltage, but the strobe only at 11 volts or higher. The panel switch would select the voltage to put on the one wire ( a couple of diodes would provide the lower voltage). Another choice would be a simple aircraft panel dimmer switch to vary the voltage...on/dim gives you Nav, on/bright gives you both nav and strobe.
 
Well in an unguarded moment of enthusiam - now morphing into spasms without enthusiasm - a month ago I ordered
3 of the 7.5 watt Cree LED nav light bulb replacements from AC Spruce ( hear after refered to as ack!-sprue ).

Figured I would give them a try, and carry the "official" bulbs in the pilot side pocket - just in case.

Said dinguses ( see maltese falcon) cleverly noted as back ordered - but due in 3 days.

After 14 days I call ack!-sprue - and after 15 minutes get a human who has never heard of my order.
5 minutes of muzak later - she says "that's back ordered until the 23rd".

"oh" sez I innocently... when were you planning on letting me know ?"

"thats back ordered till the 23rd", she repeats.\

I assume she is too busy scratching something private to actually answer my question, and I ring off.

It is now the night of the 29th.. the online catalog says cryptically " backorder- call "

I'm glad I'm not stuck in honduras waiting for a carburetor is all I can say.

Still pondering a west coast company that offers "customer service" from 5 am to 4 pm on the west coast.

Hmm...

" Hi my name is barbie, I'm in Punjab...er I mean Bakersfield..." :mrgreen: :oops: :roll:
 
blimpy said:
" Hi my name is barbie, I'm in Punjab...er I mean Bakersfield..." :mrgreen: :oops: :roll:
Click to expand...

Living very close to A/S west, I've walked-in many times and can attest that their CustServ people are in-house.
But I must say most, but not all, of the folks there are order-fillers and warehouse types, not really airplane folks. They're great but would be equally proficient at Autozone.
The LED bulbs are still new, have seen limited demand, and the manufacturer has had less success with on-time deliveries to their vendors than most.. makes it hard for distributors to predict ability to fill orders.
Sometimes being an early-adopter to new tech has its drawbacks :D
 
I have been in Aircraft Spruce here Southwest of Atlanta several times (why waste shipping money if I can sign up someone for instruction to cover the fuel... :) ) and generally I find at the front desk the same person that talked to me over the phone. I haven't asked for a pilot certificate yet, but they can hold easily a conversation about "aviation things" and they seem to understand terms and situations.

Of course I am not the brightest bulb in the Chandelier either...
 
Well, to really beat up a dead horse...I saw an ad for LED nav lights...these were previously discussed, but now I see that they are tso'ed. The 7.5 watt lights are NOT sufficient for nav lights on certified planes (except for the tail light). According to the following A/C spruce link, the 30w bulbs are TSO'ed:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/navstrobesextant.php?kw=newsletter

I inquired if these were suitable bulbs to use in my Whelen A429 nav/strobes and I have included his response below. I would have to continue to use my existing strobes, as these LED lights are approved as nav lights, but not anti collision lighsts, according to my discussion with the mfg. So, has anyone used them? I could sure use the extra amps that I would be saving.

Hello Larry;

The most popular combination for your Whelen A429 is the Sextant kit (ACS # 11-11987) navigation and strobe light system.

You can go to http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/el/strobes_navstrobe.html to order.

In my kit comes 2 clear replacement lenses, which replaces your existing red and green lenses.

The existing Grimes bulb is about 620 lumens and draws approx. 3 amps. My red replacement light is 665 lumens, while the green is 1155 lumens and both draw <855ma.

Thank you for your interest in my products

Regards, Chris Winter
NavStrobe Lighting Ltd.
613-285-0911
 
The Canadian ( read Chinese) uncertified LED NavStrobe bulbs I bought from AC Spruce
are basically mass producedLED 12v Bulb replacements. ( see AliBaba website for generic Chinese anything)

What the guys in Canada seem to do, ( I'm guessing) is put a tiny solid state switch in the base.
Turn on the first time.. and they are ON steadily.
OFF and Then On Second Time ... and they "Strobe" in this case triple flash. ( OK 2 chips)

I think A/B logic is probably one of the simplest chips made... and rather than a "stack" of any size
you are talking about something the size of a match head... and it is only that big because the wires are.

Eh? :?
 
Larry L, just read your post about TSO'd led bulbs. Interesting.

The things I got.. certainly do not have the required directionality to be decent Nav Lights. IMHO.
Humble because I haven't visually verified that in the dark.

I'd like to see the TSO'd ones.

The reduction in current draw if nothing short of amazing... as all LED lights are.

so with our 25 AMP max generators, and old wiring, this is nothing but gravy.

The lamps I bought barely fit in the existing nav lights.

But if they used CREE devices... they could make blindingly bright lights in a small package.
 
Well it turns out that A/C Spruce told me that while they are built to the TSO, he does NOT have TSO authorization, so they are not really legal unless you get a field approval (at least in my case) because my A429 lights were field approved and they went thru FAA approval. So, I guess it still comes down to can you get them approved or are you just going to stick them in and worry about it if you get ramp checked or...
One person at my airport did not use the clear lenses, so they are not that obvious...Since I don't fly that much at night anymore, I am not so sure that I am going to spring for a set. Also, I have to pick my battles to getting approvals.
 
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